Sir Alan Marshall Muir Wood (8 August 1921 – 1 February 2009) was a British civil engineer.

Education

Muir Wood was born on 8 August 1921 at

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

in London. Educated at Abbotsholme School, he later studied mechanical sciences at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, from 1940 and graduated with a Master of Arts degree.

Career

Due to the Second World War Muir Wood joined the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

(RNVR) as a commissioned officer on 5 October 1942. He reached the rank of Probationary Temporary

Sub-Lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

(Engineers) in the RNVR before transferring as Temporary Sub-Lieutenant (Engineers) to the Royal Navy on 5 June 1944. Muir Wood was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant (Engineers) on 1 August 1945, with seniority of 5 April 1945. After leaving the navy in 1946 Muir Wood worked for the Southern Railway where he helped to design bridges and the remediation of landslips at Folkestone Warren, Kent. He then spent a period with the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive where he designed and organised the hydraulics laboratory. In 1952 he joined Halcrow, the engineering consultancy, where he began work on the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

, a project he would repeatedly return to over the next twenty years. He worked extensively with tunnels and his projects included the Clyde Tunnel, the Potters Bar rail tunnel,

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

's cargo tunnel and the Jubilee Line Extension. Muir Wood also worked on the design of South Africa's 80 km long Orange–Fish River Tunnel, the second-longest water supply tunnel in the world. Muir Wood was the second chairman of the

British Tunnelling Society The British Tunnelling Society (BTS) is a professional association established in London, UK, in 1971 by tunnelling professionals, led by Sir Harold Harding. The BTS is a learned society of the Institution of Civil Engineers, its mission bein ...

and was founding president of the International Tunneling Association in 1974 and served as honorary president until his death. He retired from Halcrow as the firm's senior partner on 1 May 1984 but continued to work as an expert witness and specialist consultant. He was closely involved with a campaign launched by '' New Civil Engineer'' to rescue Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Thames Tunnel from a plan to shroud its lining with sprayed concrete. Muir Wood was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for the November 1977 to November 1978 session.. He held a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Dundee and an Engineering Doctorate from

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

where he was also a visiting professor.

Awards

Muir Wood was a fellow of the Royal Society, of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

and of the ICE. He was also a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. In 1981 he was appointed a fellow of Imperial College London and of his alma mater, Peterhouse. Muir Wood was appointed a Knight Bachelor on 31 December 1981, the knighthood was conferred by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

on 23 March 1982. He died on 1 February 2009.

Personal life

Muir Wood was a descendant of John Muir Wood, musician, music publisher and amateur photographer from Edinburgh and Glasgow. Muir Wood was instrumental in the 1987 donation of 900 of his John Muir Wood's photographs to the National Galleries of Scotland.

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Times''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir Wood, Alan Marshall 1921 births 2009 deaths English civil engineers People from Hampstead Knights Bachelor Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge Academics of the University of Bristol Royal Navy officers Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy personnel of World War II Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences People associated with transport in London People educated at Abbotsholme School Geotechnical engineers